Home Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd.), Distinguished Fellow, VIF
Modern Warfare and Structural Transformation
Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd.), Distinguished Fellow, VIF

Prime Minister Narender Modi in a valedictory address at the Combined Commanders Conference at Kevadia, Gujarat on 05 March 2021 stressed upon the armed forces to shed the legacy systems and practices that had outlived their utility and relevance. Th

July 26, 2022 National Security and Strategic Studies, Defence, Article, doctrine, Future Force, Integration, Jointness, theaterisation
नव-सेना में बदलाव को सुधारना
Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd.), Distinguished Fellow, VIF

सेना में सुधार का मतलब है उसकी प्रकृति और रूप में स्पष्ट बदलाव लाना-जो अमूमन उसकी बेहतरी के लिए �

June 22, 2022 National Security and Strategic Studies, Defence, Hindi, Article, सेना, एआइएसी, रिक्रूटेबल मेल पॉपुलेशन (आरएमपी), रेजिमेंट्स
Transforming-transformation into neo-Army
Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd.), Distinguished Fellow, VIF

The essence of transformation in the military is to create a marked change in its character or form – mostly for the better, and moving away from the legacy systems. Normally this transforming transformation perspective is relevant to ‘how we wil

May 31, 2022 National Security and Strategic Studies, Defence, Commentary, Army, AIAC, Recruitable Male Population (RMP), regiments
Learning to Win Wars, Not Just Battles!
Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd.), Distinguished Fellow, VIF

The Russo-Ukraine War 2022 has clearly indicated that warfare is changing at dramatic rate and scope and historical similarities might not provide any guidance to the future ones. Our experience of past wars would be divorced from realities of 21st C

May 14, 2022 National Security and Strategic Studies, Defence, Article, Ukraine, PGMs, Human Rights, Mariupol, battlespace, logistics planning, political strategy, tanks
Military Situation in Ukraine
Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd.), Distinguished Fellow, VIF

Join Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM, (Retd) and Shashank Sharma for a discussion on the operational and tactical aspects of the military situation as the Russian special military operation launched against Ukraine on 24 Feb 22 enter

April 23, 2022 International Relations and Diplomacy, Russia, Crimea, Podcast, Military operations, Ukraine Crisis, Black Sea, Mariupol, Russo-Ukraine conflict, Kherson, Kyiv, Donbass, Moskuva
Russo-Ukraine War 2022: Sifting the Maze of Russian Political Policy and Military Strategy
Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd.), Distinguished Fellow, VIF

The best teacher of war is war itself! With a month behind us of the Russo-Ukraine war, it is imperative to rationalise and focus on the war itself, without referral to logic behind the war, the global geopolitics and weaponisation of economics and g

March 30, 2022 International Relations and Diplomacy, Russia, Article, US, Russia, Ukraine, Crimea, Military Strategy, Donetsk, Luhansk, Mariupol, Azove Battalion, Kherson, political policy
The Failed Epitaph (!) of Conventional War: Russo-Ukrainian War 2022
Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd.), Distinguished Fellow, VIF

Many a scholar and thinker had penned the epitaph of conventional wars as witnessed in the 20th Century. New formulations of grey zone and hybrid war, and the era of multi-domain cyber, space and informational wars had been unveiled. Yet, all too oft

March 05, 2022 International Relations and Diplomacy, Article, Russia, Ukraine, Cyber Attack, Belarus, Air attacks, conventional operations, Donetsk, Luhansk
India-China Military Standoff at LAC in Ladakh Sector - Whither from here?
Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd.), Distinguished Fellow, VIF

The 14th round of Corp Commander level military to military talks took place on 12 Jan 2022 to diffuse the ongoing military standoff between India and China. The situation emerged almost two years ago in May 2020 after China undertook military build-

February 11, 2022 International Relations and Diplomacy, China, China, PLA, Aksai Chin, LAC, Ladakh, Galwan, Pangong Tso, Podcast, Kailash Range, Buffer Zone, CBM, Chushul-Moldo, Gogra
China: Coercion as National Policy
Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd.), Distinguished Fellow, VIF

The Defence Spokesperson of CMC, Senior Colonel Wu Qian in a regular press conference on 27 Jan 2022 stated that China’s neither “coerces” nor is “coerced” by others! This view is open to serious contention, as it is apparent, China has res

January 31, 2022 International Relations and Diplomacy, China, Article, India, CCP, Tibet, Coercion, compellance, South Xinjiang, Xiaokang villages
Distilling a Strategic Vision for the Future
Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd.), Distinguished Fellow, VIF

In all ages, major geopolitical events, wars and warfare has been an important topic of analysis, mostly by historians, as post-script. Can these be predicted, in their likelihood, broad timeframe, typology and the likely political and military end-s

January 03, 2022 International Relations and Diplomacy, Article, India, Pakistan, China, LAC, Strategic Vision, scenario building
Contact Us